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S. 5370Senate119th Congress (2025-2027)In Committee

Combatting the Persecution of Religious Groups in the People’s Republic of China Act

Sponsored by Ted BuddSen. Ted Budd (R-NC)
Introduced August 7, 2026

AI-Generated Summary

Updated August 15, 2026 at 12:21 AM UTC

The bill sets U.S. policy toward religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China, labeling China a country of particular concern and authorizing sanctions against Chinese officials who commit serious religious‑freedom or human‑rights abuses. It directs the State Department to fund programs that promote religious freedom and monitor repression, urges diplomatic pressure and international cooperation to end persecution, and mandates an annual congressional briefing on these efforts.

Key Provisions

  • Designates China as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom and states that U.S. officials may consider Chinese officials responsible for abuses (including detention, forced labor, torture, etc.) for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act.
  • Directs the State Department’s relevant bureaus to support programs that promote religious freedom in China and monitor transnational repression of minority groups such as Tibetans, Christians, Uyghurs, and Falun Gong practitioners.
  • Expresses Congress’s sense that the U.S. should use diplomatic and multilateral efforts to pressure China to end persecution, release political prisoners, and ensure humane treatment of detainees, including access to family, counsel, medical care, and the ability to practice faith.
  • Calls on the global faith community to show solidarity with oppressed groups in China and to support documentation and protection of at‑risk religious defenders.
  • Requires the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to give an annual briefing to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee on sanctions, diplomatic actions, and efforts to raise political‑prisoner cases.

Legislative Activity

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SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Foreign Relations Committee

August 7, 2026

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

August 7, 2026

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Foreign Relations Committee

August 7, 2026

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued August 7, 2026

II

119th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 5370

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

August 7, 2026

Mr. Budd (for himself and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To state the policy of the United States with respect to international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Combatting the Persecution of Religious Groups in the People’s Republic of China Act.

2.

Findings

The People’s Republic of China has been designated as a country of particular concern for religious freedom under section 402(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(ii)) since 1999 for engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom (as defined in section 3 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 6402)).

3.

Statement of policy

(a)

Holding officials of the People’s Republic of China responsible for international religious freedom abuses

For any official of the Government of the People’s Republic of China that the United States Government determines is responsible for or has directly carried out abuses of international religious freedom, including those involving arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and serious restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, expression, and movement involving ethnic and religious minority groups, including Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners, in the People’s Republic of China or globally, it is the policy of the United States to also determine whether such official has committed a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights for purposes of imposing sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.).

(b)

Department of State programming To promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China

It is the policy of the United States—

(1)

that the relevant bureaus of the Department of State should support efforts to promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China; and

(2)

for programs of the Department of State to promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China and monitor transnational repression of ethnic and religious minority groups by the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

4.

Sense of Congress regarding promotion of international religious freedom in the People's Republic of China

It is the sense of Congress that the United States should promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China by—

(1)

strengthening diplomacy relating to religious freedom on behalf of ethnic and religious minority groups, including through the widespread engagement of international partners to combat abuses of religious freedom committed by the Government of the People’s Republic of China;

(2)

strengthening multilateral diplomacy to address the persecution of ethnic and religious minority groups in the People’s Republic of China;

(3)

raising the cases of political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief with officials at the highest levels of the Government of the People’s Republic of China;

(4)

calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to end its harassment and persecution of members of religious organizations, including underground house church networks, unconditionally release all unjustly detained political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief, and ensure that detainees who have not yet been released are treated humanely with—

(A)

access to family, the legal counsel of their choice, independent medical care, and international monitoring mechanisms; and

(B)

the ability to practice their faith while in detention;

(5)

encouraging the global faith community to speak in solidarity with oppressed religious groups in the People’s Republic of China; and

(6)

strengthening—

(A)

programs to document and monitor abuses; and

(B)

support for defenders of internationally recognized human rights and at-risk communities, including dissidents and individuals who have faced religious persecution by the Government of the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party.

5.

Annual briefing

(a)

In general

The Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom shall provide an annual briefing to the appropriate congressional committees on—

(1)

sanctions imposed on officials of the Government of the People’s Republic of China responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights described in section 3(a);

(2)

efforts to strengthen diplomacy relating to international religious freedom; and

(3)

plans or efforts to raise the cases of political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief with officials at the highest levels of the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

(b)

Appropriate congressional committees defined

In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means—

(1)

the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and

(2)

the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.